The present invention relates to refuse collecting devices and more particularly to a device for the removal and disposal of animal droppings or excreted solid materials, particularly those of dogs and cats in such places as gardens and lawns and on or along sidewalks and other public places as well as indoors.
Currently there is much adverse criticism of dog owners for permitting their animals to deposit their droppings in public places and on the property of other persons. In some geographical places, legislation has been enacted requiring a dog owner not only to clean up after his or her pet in any public area, but also actually to carry an approved device for performing the pickup task. Effective retrieval of animal waste deposits and particularly dog feces has been a matter of considerable concern due to possible risk to public health created by resultant unsanitary conditions not to mentioned the general inconvenience to the public.
To combat this problem, many different types of refuse collecting devices have been devised other that the usual dust pan, brooms or trowels which have long been used for clean-up purposes. The most satisfactory of these devices are such that they may be operated with one hand and without necessitating bending over or stooping to the end that the accompanying leashed animal may be securely held with the other hand. In general, such devices are of two distinctive types, the first type including a device having cooperating jaws at the lower end of a relatively long cane-like handle, together with a hand or foot-operated member by means of which the jaws may be actuated. The other type includes a scoop arrangement which is forcibly slid underneath a given dropping and some of these devices have associated therewith a paddle-like closure which is moveable in a reverse direction toward the edge of the scoop in order to pull the excretement or refuse into the scoop if the dislodged material does not fully overly the scoop at the time an attempt is made to pick it up. With both of these types, some of the devices make provisions for collecting the refuse matter in an open refuse bag, the refuse material entering the open end of the bag in the usual manner of a bag-filling operation, thus soiling the open rim region of the bag where it is subsequently tied as a preliminary to disposal of the bag and its contents.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,912,316; 4,014,584; 4,097,082; 4,194,777 and 4,225,174 disclose examples of prior art devices for removal and disposal of animal droppings. None of these prior art devices enable multiple pickup of animal waste. Nor do any of the devices of these prior art patents or those patents made of record therein disclose a spring clip arrangement for holding the plastic bag or refuse bag in place in the jaw mechanism of these prior art devices. In addition, some of these prior art devices such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,584 require a two hand operation thereby failing to permit the operator to control the dog on a leash.